Knitasha von Stashenskeins

Knitting on the Road

So, have I chosen my vacation knitting?  Well, not egg-zactly.  (Hours 'til departure = 13, but who's counting?)  I have packed two small projects so far.

#1: Chemo caps.  Dale at Yarn Haven put out a special request at this week's knit night that all attendees contribute at least one chemo cap in the month of August.  Well, you know me and charity knitting - I had to rise to the challenge.  The big challenge was finding yarn!  They want caps to be both soft and machine washable, which eliminates about 99% of my stash.  I finally ran across some Berroco Touche' that will work.  It is 50% cotton and 50% rayon, so it is definitely soft, and the label says you can machine wash in cold water.  I have three skeins: Baby Boy, Green Tea, and Fondant.  (In plain English, that's blue, green and pink.  Each skein has 89 yards, so I'm guessing I can make 2 chemo caps.  I don't have a particular pattern in mind, I'll just wing it.  Stripes probably, in the round undoubtedly.

The other small project is a Lotorp Bag.  I first saw this pattern on somebody's project page on Ravelry and it haunted me for several days until I broke down and ordered the pattern book, Noro Revisited by Cornelia Tuttle Hamilton.  I am really glad I did, because there are several other patterns in the book I want to make. (Like this.  And this.)  I know I have two skeins of Noro Silk Garden around here somewhere, in some lovely earth tones that would be perfect for my sister.

Now, I am seriously considering taking a third, larger project, but I don't know if I should.  My suitcase room is limited, but I really have a hankering to cast on a real sweater.  I haven't knit a full-size sweater since the Top-Down Tee and that was ages ago.  I'm thinking that what I should do is just pack needles and a couple of potential patterns.  There is an awesome yarn store just minutes from where we stay at the beach, so if I finish my little projects and I just have to start a sweater, I'll just have no choice but to pick up a little yarn, right?  Sounds logical to me!

All right, if I don't go and pack now, I'll never get to bed.  Happy knitting to everybody while I'm gone!  It will be just over a week until I get back and we can catch up then.  Ciao!!

Mea Culpa

I know, long time no blog.  We had a serious case of Harry Potter fever going around the family this weekend and it's just beginning to get back to normal.  Yes, I finished it.  Yes, I loved it.  No, I'm not going to say anything else that might ruin it for someone who reads slower less obsessively than I do.

Of course, as soon as I had it done, it was time to get back into the workweek, and I hadn't managed to do the grocery shopping Saturday, so I had to squeeze that into Monday.  And then Tuesday night is knit night, and this morning my daughter had a dentist appointment and yada, yada, yada.  Long story short, this is the first time in days I have had a few minutes in a row to sit down and type.

Of course, all of this extra activity has not left me much time for knitting.  Actual blog-worthy knitting content is thin on the ground these days, but I scrounged up a couple pictures.

This is the washcloth I knit in the movies Friday night while we were trying to kill time until midnight when the book was released.

This is the slightly more complicated washcloth that I knit in the bookstore waiting to get our hands on the two copies of the book I had pre-reserved.  (Fat lot of good that did me!)  We did not get our books until after 1 am, which is far past this mama's bedtime, so reading didn't really start in earnest until after I got some sleep.  Between off and on reading Saturday and a dedicated reading marathon Sunday morning, I reached the last page just after 12pm.  After being immersed in the story for so many hours, I fell back into the real world a little dazed and dizzy.

I was happy to get back to Yarn Haven last night after a week off.  (Jeanne, where were you?)  I was wearing a little sweater I made myself last year and the crowd was delighted to hear that it is called a "boob-holder".   You can see the pattern here. (It is also called Mini-sweater, but that is not as fun.)  There was some debate as to why I had neglected to bring boobs to put into the boob-holder, but we really don't have to get into that here.

I worked on my second Monkey sock, and I made sure I passed the first one around so that Monkey Socks mania could spread to my fellow knitters.

As you can see, I've made it to the heel flap.  Cookie A.'s pattern calls for a plain stockinette heel flap.  On my planet, heel flaps are ALWAYS knit in slip-stitch rib, so that is what I'm doing.  Otherwise, I am pretty much following the pattern to the letter.  No one believes me when I tell them how easy this stitch pattern is, but I promise, it really is!  I know there will be several more pairs of Monkeys in my future.  (Maybe with a picot edge, like January One does?)

Just one more day of work, and then I'm on vacation!!  Yee-haw!  DH's family has an annual reunion week on the Delaware shore, so we are off to the beach.  I heart beach week.  Lots of sun and sand, lots of reading and knitting, lots of naps. 

But before all that, lots of laundry and lots of packing.  I am starting to ponder that all-important question: "What knitting will I take?"   If I haven't finished my Monkey socks before we leave, it will not be many miles on the turnpike before I'm done.  That means I'll need a new project - yay!  There are several strong contenders in my Ravelry queue, but there is always a chance a dark horse will come out of nowhere and win the contest.  We'll have to wait and see.

La, La, La, I Can't Hear You!

I am happy to report that Hairspray was thoroughly entertaining and a whole lot of fun.  The theatre was jam-packed, meaning that I had to sit waaaaayyy closer to the screen than I like, but even that did not subtract from the experience. 

Are advance screening crowds always rowdy?  I have never been to one before.  These people were hooting and hollering and bursting into applause at the end of dance numbers.  (There were many, and they were fabulous.)

Hairspray must be shorter than Harry Potter V, because I only got one dishcloth done.  Of course, I did spend some time hiding behind my dishcloth instead of knitting it, when it looked as though Christopher Walken and John Travolta would actually kiss - not a visual I am emotionally prepared to deal with.  Thankfully, said kiss did not occur, although they did have a divine, Fred-and-Ginger number.  Long story short, if you like singing and dancing to break out at random intervals, I can highly recommend Hairspray!

One little monkey, jumpin' on the bed...

Well, not really.  It is hard enough to take a picture of my own foot when it is stationary, and the ceiling fan above my bed makes jumping unwise.  Did I mention that I LOVE this yarn?  I am so excited about how these sock are turning out that I can hardly stand it.  Sock #2 is scheduled for cast-on sometime today.

Sock knitting was briefly interrupted on Wednesday night to attend the second sideways glove class.  I got 3.5 fingers done during class, and then came home and finished the rest while I watched the World Series of Trivia on VH1.  (Am I the only one who is freakishly obsessed by this tournament?  I just KNEW the mega-geeks would win!)  Anyhoo, I was up way too late, but I just couldn't quit until the whole hand was done.

It's a glove!!  I have to add a cuff now, but that will take a little planning.  There is a ruffle cuff option on the original pattern, but it is kind of blah, so I'm going to improvise my own.  I'm thinking about checking this book for a garter stitch lace edging that will work.  I will get to the 2nd glove soon, but I plan on tweaking the pattern a little for that as well.  There is a lot of picking up stitches from cast-on rows in this pattern, which is fiddly and kind of a pain.  Looks like a job for my old friend, the provisional cast on!

I forgot to give the pattern details in my last post.  This is "Sideways Gloves" by Jill Bigelow-Suttell and Gloria Spargo from Kindred Spirits Design Studio.  Website is here. 

Tonight my girls and I will be attending the big Harry Potter party at our local Borders bookstore, and then I will be on a self-imposed media blackout for a few days while I read the book.  No internet (gulp!) and no TV.  I just know there will be idiots out there trying to spoil the ending for everybody, and I refuse to let it happen to me!  If I have a couple of days of emails and blogs to catch up on afterward, so be it.

Every Breath You Take

DH and I got to go and see The Police in concert in Cleveland last night and it was AWESOME.  Everything about the evening was perfect.  We got to the arena early and found a great parking spot.  There was a nice little pizza place with a yummy veggie sub within walking distance, and the weather was perfect for just wandering around.

Once we got inside the arena, DH said, "Don't you want to get a t-shirt?"  Of course I did!  I picked out a really cool black one that has a Union Jack on the front and all the tour dates on the back.  Then we grabbed beverages and headed to our seats.

Our seats were amazing!!!!  We were on the floor of the arena in the center section right in front of the stage and we were in Row G, which translates to 7 rows back.  I am no good at distances, but DH says we were 20 feet from the hunk of gorgeous musical talent that is STING!  (Me?  A crush?  I don't know what you are talking about)  Let's just say, from my seat, I could see that his eyes are blue.  (Like I didn't already know)

They played all of the hits, with "Every Breath You Take" (my very fave) for the 2nd encore.  I called home during that song so the girls could listen - they said it sounded great.  DH grabbed me just as the song was winding down and we ran like rabbits up the stairs, out of the arena, and across the street to our car.  We made it onto the street just before the crazy traffic hit and got onto the freeway lickety-split - it was amazing!  I have never had arrival to and departure from a concert venue go so smoothly.  We used up all our concert karma in one night, but it was totally worth it.  Yay Police!

And yay for DH who did all the driving so I could knit!  He even let me have a light on when we were driving home.  As a result, my new monkey sock is considerably longer than the picture I took before we left.

Just imagine the cuff longer and add a heel.  (No time to take pictures before work today)  I am loving my monkey socks so far.  The pattern is fun, and I've got it memorized now.  This yarn is great!  I just love the colors, and it knits beautifully without any splitting.  After the slow slog of Bayerische, it feels like this sock is getting done at warp speed.

Speaking of Bayerische, here's just one more picture:

I could never convince my camera that these socks are purple, but at least you can see some stitch detail.  The picture that was closest to the real color is here, in the picture that shows a close up view of the heel.  It really is cool how the color subtly shifts. 

No knitting night for me today.  My friend Carrie has free passes to see Hairspray, so I'm meeting her at the theatre at seven.  I'll tell you what I think next time, IF I stay awake.  We didn't get home until 1 am last night, so I'm not making any promises!

Day of Triumph!

I knitted like a lunatic all afternoon, and this is what I've got to show for it:

 

No, your eyes don't deceive you, that is TWO Bayerische socks.  Finished, baby!!!  I have not washed or blocked them yet; I just wove in the ends and rushed outside to take a picture.

I will coerce a household member into taking better, artsy pictures for me later so I can put them on Ravelry.  For now I just wanted photographic evidence that I made it through this project.  It was touch and go there for awhile, but I finally prevailed.  Such a weight has been lifted!

A little clandestine knitting went on this week as well.  On Wednesday, I went to a Sideways Gloves class at Yarn Haven.  It was a hoot - lots of giggling!  We started on glove #1.

 

Starting at the thumb edge, you work sideways in garter stitch with some short rows for shaping.  Each digit has some stitches put aside on waste yarn.  When you get to the pinky edge, you work back the other way, grafting the fingers together as you go.  I knit all of this in class and have not worked on it since so I could be faithful to Bayerische.  I have about 6 more rows to knit and then I'll be where the teacher said to stop and wait.  We will learn how to do the grafting at next Wednesday's class.

Recognize the yarn?  It it the same Louisa Harding Kimono Angora that I used earlier this year for wristwarmers.  I had 2 balls left, so I thought I'd see how gloves might work.  This yarn is deliciously soft, but I forgot how much bunny fuzz flies around when you knit with it.  I will need to take a Claritin before my next class.

I have high hopes for these gloves.  They require ~150yds of sport or DK yarn, which means I could potentially make some out of handspun!  Might make nifty Christmas presents, huh?

Went to see Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix yesterday with my youngest.  Loved it!  It was better than the book, which has been my least favorite of the series thus far.  Of course, I couldn't work on Bayerische or sideways gloves in a dark theatre, so I took something a little less challenging.

 

Not bad for not quite 2 1/2 hours, eh?   Rabbitch has asked for knitted washcloths to donate to women in a shelter, so I'm going to make a little pile to send off.  These garter stitch squares are super fast to make, but I saw a pattern on Ravelry that is much prettier and also looks like fun.  Check it out here, I'll wait.  (Patient humming)  Back yet?  Isn't that cute?  Look it up on Ravelry, there are some really pretty ones in cool colors.  (And while you are there, come on over to my notebook and say hi!  My Ravelry name is yodaknit)

After the painful monogamy of the Bayerische socks, I fully suspect there will be some wild-oat sowing at Chez Knitasha now.  I'll get back to you with explicit pix when the smoke clears.

Holy Heatwave, Batman!

Like a lot of other places, the Toledo area has been feeling the heat - in the 90's for days now.  Add humidity level of approximately one million percent and you get free sauna, 24/7.  Blech!

This was already bad enough, but then last night the AC in our house pooped out.  Per my husband, it is "blowing but not cooling".  Every ceiling fan in the house is set on high, but it was still up to 76 when I finally gave up trying to sleep at 6:30 this morning.  Considering the sun wasn't really even up by then, I'd say we're in for a rough day.  Our air conditioning guy has a day job, so he probably won't make it over here until this evening.  We'll see how long the popsicles hold out.

Free stuff!!  There was free stuff at Yarn Haven night last night.  We always throw a dollar in a basket to help pay for beverages and snacks and then there is a drawing for little gift bags.  Well, last night, after the lucky knitter got her bag, she was told to draw another name.  That knitter got to choose a skein from a big pile of yarn samples piled in the middle of the floor, and then she drew another name.  This continued until we all had a turn.  I was one of the last names picked, but I still got some very yummy yarn.

See the magic word?  ALPACA!!!  This is DK weight and the skein is 220 yards, so I'll really be able to make something out of it.  We were baffled by the color name: Rose Gray.  Huh?  Looks like brown to me and there is no hint of rose at all, unless it is a poor shriveled dead rose.  That's OK, it is heaven to touch and I look forward to knitting it.  (And since I already took a picture of it, it can be my first stash item on Ravelry!  It's a slippery slope, my friends.)

I also got another present from Karen last night.  She was browsing around Etsy and found some darling little needle cases.

 

Isn't it cute?  Shipping was the same for one pouch or three, so she really didn't have a choice.  (As one of Karen's chief enablers, it is my job to point this out.)

 

Perfect for DP's!  The open slot is for the #2's my Hogwarts Pal sent me - I didn't have them with me last night.  Thanks again Karen!  (All she got in return was some slightly used Cascade Fixation - I got the better end of the deal)

Bayerische sock #2 has a heel and the gussets are done.

 

I am too superstitious to claim that it will be smooth sailing from here, but I can see a faint light at the end of the tunnel.  It is killing me absolute torture vexing to not be able to cast on for something new, but I am bound and determined to get these done first.  It will feel so good to get them packaged up for my Sockapalooza pal!

I spun up the second skein of my mom's anniversary yarn.  Spinning from the fold worked great!  I had a lot more control and was able to spin finer yarn that was also more consistent.  It was not easy to take pictures to show you the difference, but I tried.

 

This is skein #1.  Lots of variation in gauge, averages about 12 wraps per inch.

 

This is skein #2.  A lot more uniform and 16 wraps per inch!  Is that cool or what?

Of course, I have decided to keep skein #1 and not foist it on my mom.  I am hopeful skein #3 will closely resemble #2 and I'll send her two matching little cakes of homespun. 

I thought I might get a little spinning done this morning, but I think my hands will be too damp and sticky.  I'm off for a frozen fruit smoothie and then a tepid shower instead.  C'mon rain!!

One Step Closer to Monkey Madness

Ladies and gentlemen, I have finished the cuff!

 

Woot, woot!  I'll be working on the heel flap later today, IF I can get to it.  Having one of those typical crazy Saturdays where I rush from task to task and end the day too tired to knit. 

As promised, I broke out the teal roving and did some spinning.

 

I still love this color, but can I say that I miss the crazy color changes of my kool-aid roving?  This seems so sedate by comparison.  And without the variegated and ragg effects, there is nothing to distract from my uneven spinning.  This skein is only one-fourth of the whole roving, so I should have enough to really make something, when I get back to it.

Remember how I was stressing over an anniversary present for my mom?  Well, I had a little brainstorm.  Since she is the one who gave me the spinning wheel, why not spin her some yarn?  I want her to see how much I am enjoying her gift.  My mom is sensitive to wool, so I knew I couldn't use any of the roving I've already got.

EBay to the rescue!  I found some silk/merino roving in a beautiful heathery pink.  I wish you could feel this stuff!!  It is SO soft; spinning it is a dream.  A messy dream - it sheds like crazy!

 

I was afraid it would be really hard to spin, but it isn't too bad.  Some inadvertent thick-and-thin action, but my first skein looks OK.

 

Dig that silvery shine!!  I have enough for two more skeins.  I may try spinning the next one from the fold to see if I have any better control.  Then I'll wind it into little cakes and hope she likes it.  My mom has always been big on hand-made gifts - she likes knowing someone put in some time and effort instead of just money. 

Back to the grind - hope everybody has a nice weekend!

PTFD

Now that the adrenaline has worn off and I'm no longer nauseous, I think I can tell you about last night without too many flashbacks.

My evening started calmly enough.  I went to Yarn Haven for knitting, where a good time was had by all.  I took the two skeins of my latest koolaid yarn to give to Karen, who was either glad to receive them or did a good job pretending.  In return, Karen had a gift for me!  She had sent me a beautiful picture of a sunset that she took, and I said that I wanted sock yarn in those colors.  Well, I guess that she kept her eyes open during her yarn binge last Sunday.

Isn't it gorgeous?!  (Notice the elaborate gift wrapping)  This yarn is called Twisted and it is fingering weight sock yarn.  The colorway is "Guardian".  Karen and I decided that it wants to become a pair of Monkey socks.  They will be the next socks I cast on after the Bayerische pair is finally done.  (Leg of sock #2 is now 2.5 pattern repeats long and not worthy of another picture yet.)

After knitting, I was supposed to meet my family at my husband's office to watch fireworks.  Like many cities, Toledo is actually a conglomerate of several smaller communities that adjoin each other.  One of thoses communities, the city of Maumee, had their fireworks display last night.  My husband's office is perfectly situated to see the fireworks and we could have sat in comfort in the parking lot to enjoy the display.  But instead...

My husband (unrepentant adrenaline junkie) decided we should watch the fireworks on the roof and brought his giant extension ladder to facilitate this crazy plan.  Of course, the kids were all for it.  Before I knew it, I was at the top of the ladder, contemplating the terrifying maneuver of stepping off of it onto the (pitched!) roof.  I somehow summoned enough courage to do it, but the ladder gave a terrifying sideways lurch halfway through it, and I really thought I was a goner.  Once I had my feet "safely" planted on the roof, I realized I had made a terrible mistake.  Now I was stuck on a roof and the only way to get down would be to step backward onto the scary ladder.  Rock and a hard place, my friends.

My husband somehow coaxed me up to the top of the "gently sloped" roof, where I sat straddling the peak with my knees clenched in like I was riding a bucking horse.  My poor youngest daughter, who was not scared at all, had to sit in front of me.  Everytime she moved at all, I would frantically grab her, thinking she was about to plummet to her death.  My oldest daughter and three of her friends were behind me, but I honestly couldn't tell you what they were doing.   There might have been a full-scale keg party going on behind me, but I was not releasing my death grip on the roof enough to turn around and look.

Needless to say, my enjoyment of the actual fireworks display was somewhat hindered.  I do remember fireworks going off, but all I could think about was that they would eventually end and then my family was going to expect me to get back off the roof.  I had mental pictures of freezing completely and my husband having to call the fire department to peel me off the shingles.  "Local pediatrician suffers emotional breakdown, requires dramatic rescue.  Film at eleven."

My husband knew how freaked I was, so he got all the teenagers off the roof first and then came back for me and my youngest, who probably still has fingernail marks on her arms.  Thankfully, my husband is big, strong, and fairly unflappable.  I somehow managed to get myself to climb back over to the ladder, clinging to his arm.  (Did I mention it was now DARK?!)  I huddled in modified fetal position while he got my daughter started down the ladder, and then I had to pay the piper.

It is pretty much all a blur.  I do remember breathing like I was in labor.  I remember the sound of my heart pounding in my ears.  I remember the horrible moment when I had to let go of his hand in order to grab the ladder.  And that's about it, until my feet were back on solid ground and I was loudly vowing that I was never ever EVER leaving it again. 

All day today, any attempt to think back to my descent has resulted in vertigo, nausea and an impending sense of doom.  I finally realized what is wrong.  I've got Post-Traumatic Fireworks Disorder.  I plan on seeking out a support group, but if they don't meet on a ground floor, they can just forget it!